Basketball Recap: Jayden Villarreal Key Part of a Team Effort in Tigers Win

After having lost a blowout in their previous game, Sacred Heart was happy to have turned things around on Tuesday. They walked away with a 57-45 victory over the Nazarene Christian Academy Lions. This was a revenge game for the Tigers: when they faced off against the Lions last Monday, they had to take a 66-46 defeat.

Sacred Heart's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jayden Villarreal led the charge by going 9 for 19 en route to 23 points in addition to six boards and four steals. Villarreal is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed three or more in the last 11 games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Clayton Bezner, who posted 14 points along with eight rebounds and four steals.

Sacred Heart was working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Nazarene Christian Academy only racked up four assists.

Despite the loss, Nazarene Christian Academy still got an impressive performance from Aidan Adams, who scored 29 points in addition to five boards and three steals. That was a full 64.4% of Nazarene Christian Academy's points, marking the fifth time in a row he's put up more than a third of the team's points. Alexander Neal was another key player, putting up seven points and five rebounds.

Sacred Heart is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-11 record this season. As for Nazarene Christian Academy, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 11-14.

Sacred Heart wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 48-35 defeat against Victory Baptist Academy on the 31st. Nazarene Christian Academy has also already played their next contest, a 55-35 win against Bethesda Christian on the 4th.